


home is where the heart is

by 10hr10minute



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-22 07:07:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9590033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10hr10minute/pseuds/10hr10minute
Summary: seventeen are a magic using special ops unit and on one mission, hoshi gets caught(performance team+woozi x angst)





	

**Author's Note:**

> i have quite a lengthy end note because i have a lot to say but as far as things to note before reading goes:
> 
> \- small warnings for some foul language and small moments of violence  
> \- the only ship i s-p-e-l-l out is SoonHoon but there are some other dynamics going around in the background with varying levels of subtlety. that said i still love everyone in svt x everyone else in svt and it shows  
> \- i hope you enjoy

As if by a flip of a switch, the warmth comes suddenly and oppressively, sending shivers down Chan’s back.

“What did you just say?”

Chan took in the sight of his hyung standing across the room, knowing full well that the other could cross that distance in a matter of nanoseconds if he so wanted. He noted how his pink pyjamas reflected the things the older male was expecting (or rather, not) to happen on a cold night such as this.

Yet there Jihoon stood, uncaring of what Chan’s opinions might be, shoulders tensed, eyebrows furrowed.

The room is completely silent now, as if no one moves, as if no one breathes, and all that air being unused as it was intended hung in the space, weighed down on Chan’s shoulders, crushed his ability to speak.

“What the fuck did you say, Chan?”

Hearing his own name being called was electrifying in the way that caused every part of his body to short circuit and stop responding. Chan bit hard on his lips.

“They took him.”

“They?”

“The enemy.”

“Him?”

“…Hoshi hyu-“

 **Boom!** The room exploded into motion.

Seungcheol had tackled Jihoon to the ground; Jeonghan rushed towards Chan with his arms outstretched. All around the other members scrambled to pitch in. Some supported the leader’s effort in holding Jihoon down, the others went to Jun and Minghao, who had had their heads lowered throughout the exchange.

Half of Chan only hears the fresh crackling of air by his ear, feels the heat that swished past his face, knows that if he turned, there would be a small crater in the wall. It took away his ability to move, this knowledge, thinking about how a few inches to the right and the target would have been his face instead.

The other half somehow processes the comforting warmth around his body, smells the fresh scent of rose shampoo from a recently showered person, and hears a soothing voice speak in his ear.

“It’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay.”

Over and over again the voice said, in such a whisper as if it were only for Chan to hear.

Those swirling emotions, unable to make any sense of themselves, burst forth as fat, salty tears. First it was one drop, and then as if seeing the first one go gave it confidence, another came. Following that another and another, tears, growing less apprehensive, flowed freely down his face, stained his cheeks, and Chan wailed.

Jun came to join the hug, head tilted up and blinking rapidly. He patted Chan on the head and allowed his shoulders to be squeezed by the others.

Minghao watched the scene in silence, and then he turned to witness Jihoon storm away deeper into the apartment. With a sigh he closed his eyes, letting his sensations fade away.

The members who had been holding Jihoon back shuffle over to join the group huddle. Eleven members pressed together, taking up almost all the space in the common area and yet the room had never felt emptier.

* * *

 

Chan looked out of the window. He could still see his house if he tried and he could still remember his mother’s teary faced appearance waving goodbye. Stretched for miles and miles there was the green and brown of the land, and the blue of the sky. For the sixth time since boarding, Chan unfurls the little piece of paper where he had written the instructions for his journey.

Alight at the terminal. Go to the train. Take the blue line. Alight at Pledis School of Magic.

It felt like he could recite the set of instructions even in his sleep, yet the possibility that he might screw something up wouldn’t leave his mind. Everything was uncomfortable. Suddenly, he had forgotten how to sit on a seat, was too aware of the pressure against his butt and the posture of his legs.

He sighed and looked out the window again. The scenery had turned very different before he realised it. Now shops and buildings were pressed close to one another, and they all seemed to be competing to see who could grow taller. Yet they were nothing compared to the towering skyscrapers, whose reflective surfaces shone bright and majestic. Chan could feel the awe with every bone in his body, but he tried hard not squirm, not to be too obvious. He would twirl the strap of his bag. He would watch passengers come on and off with the same indifference as they. Then he would get off correctly at his stop.

When he did get off the bus, he found himself miraculously standing in front of the school. He would have questioned the logic of that but walking through the gates was like walking from land into water, such a complete and sudden change that it forced the air out of his lungs, and the rationality out of his mind.

There was so much life bustling about, filled with people moving, people talking, and somehow all that sound just refracts around his being, isolating. His heart starts to accelerate. To think a few moments ago his biggest worry had been simply getting here. What a big laugh!

A big laugh brings him out of his inner conflict. There was a boy standing next to him now, the first clear sound. The boy was taller, mischievous eyes and unruly blond hair. Chan couldn’t help but think of him as a troublemaker.

“First year?”

Chan flinched.

“Ey stop that, no one’s going to eat you.” He paused for a bit then continued. “Come on, I’ll show you to the admin office.”

With that, he flung an arm around Chan’s shoulder, and Chan found himself so swept away by the other guy, he couldn’t even think to go in any other direction.

“What’s your name, by the way?”

“Chan… Lee Chan, just one character.”

“Sweet, that’s uncommon. I’m Kwon Soonyoung, fourth year.”

Soonyoung steered them through a park. They came across a boy carrying a huge stack of books.

“Running errands for the library again, Wonwoo?” Soonyoung stopped to shout at the person.

“You know me, always booked up with my duty.”

Chan had never seen an expression change half as quickly as Soonyoung’s did in response, and honestly that was funnier than the joke. Funny enough that he actually laughed and felt the slightly awkward atmosphere bubble away, carried along by the same wind that took his mirth. Wonwoo hadn’t initially known there was someone else there, vision obscured by the books and all, so he was a little taken aback when he heard laughing that was not of the Soonyoung variety.

“With a friend?” He asked, lowering the books so he could get a better view.

“A first year. I’m being a helpful senior.” Soonyoung said.

“You? Helpful?” Wonwoo deadpanned. Then he faced Chan. “What’s your name?”

“Chan. Just one character.”

“Oh! Jackie Chan!”

“Okay, we’re leaving now.” Soonyoung interrupted loudly. “Don’t want you polluting the babies on their first day.”

“My jokes aren’t that bad!” And after a beat, “if you can’t appreciate them then joke’s on you!”

Soonyoung sped up as fast as he could go.

“That was Jeon Wonwoo, by the way.” Soonyoung said when they slowed down. “My classmate. He’s a helpful person, and quite knowledgeable since he reads a lot but gosh damn his jokes need work.”

“I thought he was pretty funny.” Chan confessed.

Soonyoung made a scandalised face. “I carried you for nine months, I sheltered you, I raised you, and this is how you repay me? By laughing at Wonwoo’s terrible jokes.”

Chan couldn’t help laughing again.

But then all the warmth is suddenly gone and all he hears is the ticking of the clock, tock tock, tock, while he sits too stiff in his seat. He was in a classroom now, and the teacher was making them do their self-introductions.

Tzuyu: Taiwan National Junior Academy of Magic. Kim So Hye: I.O.Institute for Magical Arts.

“Nice to meet you all, my name is Lee Chan.”

“And what school did you come from, Mr Lee?” The teacher implored.

“Iksan Public School.”

“Ah.” She paused. “Okay, next student please.”

Chan sat back down sheepishly. All the students turned to stare at him when he did. The room grew cold and small. After him, more students introduced themselves, and they were naming more and more fancy schools that Chan hadn’t even heard of before. When they were done, they sat back down and turned to look at Chan. No one said a word other than when they had to introduce themselves, and Chan could still see all of them clearly despite his best efforts to look at the table.

The first lesson was terrible. Chan had no idea what using magic freely was supposed to feel like, so while everyone played around materialising and dematerialising little orbs of magical energy, Chan watched little pieces of his own lime green flickered on and off upon his palm, and then the bell rang.

_Your boy has magic abilities, he should be sent to a magic school in the city instead of spending his days here in the countryside._

Someone had left scribbles on his desk again. ‘Do you even magic bro’ ‘Why don’t you just use magic to clean this?’

Chan decided not to clean it at all then. Since it’d only get defaced again the next day anyway. He sat through his casting class looking at the poorly drawn pile of shit, and during history, the word ‘loser’ was most prominent.

And the next day, the desk was mostly clean. This time there was only one message written across the surface. ‘Go back to Iksan’

_Do you want to learn to use magic, Channie?_

No. He really, really didn’t. Would have gone back and socked the younger him right in the face if he could. ‘Should never have left home.’ He thinks.

_Please be safe. Take care of yourself alright? Make sure you eat your meals. Call often, understand?_

He laid on his bed, sprawled next to the reading for the next class that he hadn’t so much as looked it. Was there even a point? None of the readings or written assignments mattered because it was three weeks into the term and Chan couldn’t cast a single spell.

The little jingle of an incoming call started to play from the phone and Chan stretched his hand towards it, falling short and he decided not to push on.

_Our little Channie all on his own. I’m so proud of you but I miss you already._

F, F, D+. Are you proud now?

“Yo I heard if you touch Chan, you will definitely fail your next assessment.”

“Ayy such a liar.”

“Oh then go touch him. I dare you.”

“Okay but I’m not going to risk it.”

“Watch out he’s behind!”

“Eek! What if he touches me?!”

F, F, F.

_I love you._

I hate this.

The scene shifts again and he was sitting against the wall in a quiet place. He knew the place, he remembered finding the place. Once when he walked and stumbled across this area near the janitor storeroom, the one place in school where there were virtually no students or hints of student life around. A peaceful area, and the janitors didn’t really seem to care if a mopey student decided to sit around their space. Even if he can’t recall walking to the place, there Chan sat, back pressed against the wall in the heat, result slip crunched into a ball in his hand. Just him and his thoughts.

… And the basketball slowly rolling over.

“Yo sorry about that!” Someone called when the ball came to a stop by his feet.

“Hey I remember you, my junior, my man. How’ve things been?”

Chan looked up and answered him by downright bawling.

“Oh my God, what?” Soonyoung responded. But he offered his shoulder to Chan anyway, pushed the ball away so he can get into a better position, and patted the younger’s hair until the tears stopped.

He listened to everything Chan had to say. Then he took him to the senior block, introduced him to some friends, and invited him to practice with them after school.

Everyday after that, Soonyoung brought Chan to that practice room and together they trained with the rest of Soonyoung’s friends. The group was pretty big, but they all felt familial, homely even.

There was Seungkwan and Vernon, who just turned second years and were very keen on having their first junior to guide. There were the third years, Seokmin, Minghao, and Mingyu. They were interesting. Seokmin was probably the most positive person to exist, while Minghao and Mingyu seemed to be unable to go a full day without some argument, big or small. But there was one time when a senior insulted Minghao for being a foreigner and Mingyu threw a microwave at him.

Of course he knew Soonyoung and the guy with the books, Wonwoo, were fourth years, but in addition there was also Junhui and Jihoon. Chan found Junhui to be super intimidating at first but later learnt he’s just a big softie with sharp facial features. And on the subject of not judging books by their covers, also learnt that Jihoon, who was shorter than him and very adorable, could and would break all his limbs whenever he fancied. Which wasn’t comforting because out of everyone, Jihoon seemed to glare at him most often.

And finally, the oldest in their group, the fifth years: Seuncheol, Jeonghan, and Joshua. In that order, they sort of played the role of father, mother, and awkward but morally just oldest brother. Given their natures, they quickly accepted him into the group and Chan felt a bit like he was adopted into a gang.

Despite the general happy atmosphere, Chan was taken aback by how serious they were about practicing. Immediately, he knew that he had to work hard, that they only pardoned mistakes once. Although they already seemed so far ahead, they urged each other to go ever further, so what was Chan to do, as a proper junior, but to reciprocate as he chased after his hyungs.

Suddenly his classes became easy to follow, his grades improved. Around him, the air around his classmates began to stir with change but he barely noticed. Honestly, he barely noticed anyone outside of Soonyoung’s group.

Then he goes and scores top in class during the finals, and Soonyoung is cheerfully walking with him to the practice room again. They’d walked until they were crossing the field when something came barrelling over, knocking into both of them from behind.

“AYYY KWON-SOON!” The voice exclaimed.

“AYYY LEE-SEOK!” Soonyoung returned.

Seokmin faced Chan.

“Sorry there Channie, I thought he was alone.”

“I literally had an arm around him though?” Soonyoung said.

“Yeah didn’t notice.”

“More like couldn’t stop.” A completely new voice joined the fray.

Jihoon, with his very noticeable pink hair, had trotted over to the trio presumably from the same direction Seokmin had come.

“Okay see, there is this thing called inertia and it is a rule of the universe-” Seokmin started.

“Yeah whatever.” Jihoon interjected. “Besides Soonyoung is always going to the practice room with Chan. Use your head a little.”

“Someone’s salty.”

“Shut up.”

“Oh no, Soonyoung, save me from your petty boyfriend please.”

“Aww, of course I l-o-v-e Ji-hoon-ie the most-est.” Soonyoung cooed.

Chan blinked.

Jihoon turned the same shade as his hair, probably more out of embarrassment than anger even though he was glaring at everything in sight, even his boyfriend, who had been trying to wrap his arms around the former.

In that moment, Chan hadn’t a clue how to respond. What? But how? And since when?

Then the sky turned dark all of a sudden, the sun was gone and the stars twinkled away merrily. There were streetlights lighting up the path as Soonyoung and Chan strolled, and Chan was incredibly aware of the weight of plastic bags in his hands, and tension thick enough to cut with a knife.

Here and there Chan would try to look at his hyung, but neither spoke for a long time.

“I won’t hold it against you if you like, don’t want me to talk to you again or something.”

“No? I mean it’s fine. It’s just kind of new? I never knew anyone who was gay before.”

“Well, how’s it feel to have your first gay friend.”

Soonyoung probably meant it as a joke, but his voice wavers just a little as he approached the end of the sentence. And maybe it was the cool night breeze, or maybe it was the weight in his right arm being heavier than his left, or maybe it was the dark obstructing Chan of a clear view of his hyung’s face, but Chan never felt more compelled to speak the truth than at that moment.

“You’re still my coolest hyung.” He smiled. “No second coolest. Maybe third.”

“Look at this brat.” Soonyoung jested, flinging his arm, bags and all, to hang heavily on Chan’s shoulder. Chan was suddenly stricken with how thankful he was for that arm. That was an arm that would share popsicles with him in the summer, would come find him in the practice room and whack him when he made a mistake, and would always, always pat him on the back when the day was done.

If he could, he would hold onto that arm forever.

However, the universe didn’t like the concept of forever, and as if being punished for even thinking it, that arm shoved hard against his chest, sent him flying backwards.

The scenery changed once more, open space giving way to the suffocating rocky walls of a cave.

Chan watched with terror as Soonyoung’s face started to get less and less defined through a wall of ice that grew steadily thicker. 

“Stop! Stop! Hyung don’t!” Chan screamed, throwing himself against the ice.

“Get out of here, all of you!” Soonyoung growled.

Something brought him further and further away from the scene, Chan didn’t know what it was but it wound tightly against his abdomen and he trashed against it as much as possible. He had no idea what he would do if he broke free, what he could do, but as long as he was there together with Soonyoung, something would work out. Something always worked out.

“Let me go! HYUNG!”

* * *

 

“HYUNG!”

Eyes flying open, Chan took in the cold sight of the bunk bed above him.

‘A nightmare,’ he thought, hands coming up to rub at his face. Oh. It seemed he had been crying his sleep.

He hadn’t noticed before but there were some extra weight beside him on his mattress, which he now recognised as Seungkwan and Vernon sitting on his bed.

Silently, Seungkwan reached over to pat Chan’s head gently, twirling his fringe a little bit. Chan almost couldn’t stand seeing it.

“I should have tried harder.”

“What would you have done different?” Vernon asked. “If you could.”

“Just something.” Chan answered. “Just anything else.”

“Don’t think about it too much now. Get some sleep.” Seungkwan suggested.

“I didn’t even try…” Chan whimpered, tears threatening to come again.

Seungkwan covered his eyes with a palm, “sssh, go to sleep.”

There is a faint glow coming from his hand now; Vernon quickly reached for Seungkwan’s arm, frowning. Seungkwan doesn’t budge; Vernon squeezed tighter. “Goodnight, Chan.” 

Silence hung in the air for the longest time, as Seungkwan and Vernon listened to the deep inhale and exhale of sleep.

“I don’t think you should have done that.” Vernon said carefully.

“I know.” Seungkwan said. “But, I just… it’s going to be a long day.”

Vernon sighed and pulled him closer. ”Let’s get some sleep too.”

* * *

 

Come next morning, the atmosphere is thick and viscous. Breakfast goes on almost as normal as usual, except that everyone is much quieter. Someone still asked for the milk. Someone still grabbed and passed it. There is one seat empty, but try hard enough and it almost doesn’t seem too jarring, as inconsequential as the wallpaper.

When they were done, Jun handled the clean up as he normally would, while everyone else gathered in the living room.

Seungcheol sat leaning against the wall, facing everyone, and everyone faced him in a semicircle. He cleared his throat loudly enough for Jun in the pantry to hear.

“Here’s today’s agenda. We have two jobs today. First, a bodyguard job. There is a shipment of precious minerals coming in from the South Port today and the Ministry has appointed us to ensure everything gets transported safely. It’s quite small scale so I’m thinking just three people is enough.

Lucky, DK, and do you think you’re up to it The8?”

Minghao nodded.

“Great. Lucky, you’ll be in charge.

Next, we also have a collection job. Intel has allegedly found the guy who stole the magic artefact from the Transport Minister’s private collection last week so we’re being dispatched to verify. Since they are quite confident they’ve got the right guy, and that the guy’s a rogue mage, we’re going to assume there will be physical engagement so I’m bringing five of us.

Starting with me, S.Coups, then J-Boy, CHiVe, Angel…

And Woozi.”

Here he looked pointedly at the man in question, unsure of his response. Jihoon gave him a nod, schooled features giving away nothing more. Seungcheol took it as affirmative anyway.

“Everyone else can either practice or clean up, you’re free to choose. All those on missions, gather in the planning room. Dismissed!”

Some stand, some sigh, dissonance in accordance.

* * *

 

Just like he’d been ordered, Junhui went to the practice room to do some training right after seeing the mission teams off.

He was a little thankful that he hadn’t been picked to go on any that day, he wasn’t sure if he was actually ready for it. Sure he hadn’t cried as much as Chan but still, he was nowhere as put together as Minghao was. Or at least appeared to be. Then again, nothing ever seemed to really bring Minghao down.

Not even way back when he’d just entered the school as a foreigner, and Junhui was ready to offer his hand but Minghao was ready to fight anyone who looked down on him for that reason alone. Much in contrast to Junhui who smiled and went away. Junhui shook his head vigorously. He wasn’t here to compare himself to Minghao. He was here to practice so that he could do better next time.

Exactly. In fact, he would have spoken out against it if Seungcheol had wanted him out because, obviously, he desperately needed to improve before he could be considered ready for the field.

He grabbed his folding fan from the weapon stash. The enemy had caught him off guard by ambushing them from his blind spot. What a disgrace, when he was supposed to be the lookout, absolutely shameful. 

All that training, all those belts of accomplishment in various martial arts, and they all went to nought, slipped so easily from his fingers.

He pulled open the fan in one sharp motion. Sssshrak.

Even though he was supposed to be the physical fighter of the team. No, that’s not right, because he could only be the physical fighter of the team. If he didn’t have that either, then what else would there be for him?

Eyes shut he reimagined. He could hear it all over again, the footfall, the air changing, the fast approaching blade from the back.

Because he was told he had a good magic. Imagine, power over the very air itself. Elemental affinity was always welcomed with opened arms. It was a good ability, a fairly uncommon ability, a practical ability, yes, good, good, good.

Because, on top of that, he was talented in combat. The teachers praised him with phrases like ‘good core strength’ and ‘amazing flexibility’. They compared it to a calling, being born for something. No matter the enemy, the situation, he had the talent to float around just out of reach, and the gift of knowing when to strike. They said he was the ‘best fighter in the school’s history’.

“But why is your mana so terrible?”

They asked. They always asked. He couldn’t answer. He couldn’t know.

During one of the earlier lessons, the teacher would introduce this idea, this difference between strong magic and strong magical ability. Junhui wrote that down dutifully in his notes. And what was he to do when he was (ironically enough) winded, panting from exertion, with the teacher on the sidelines, waiting.

Jun thought and thought and thought. 

Then one day, as he watched Soonyoung’s figure in the mirror watch him, concentration in his drawn lips, he flicked his wrist once and something just clicked, the first spark before the dawning of an epiphany.

“I think I’ll transfer.”

Soonyoung went from staring at the mirror him to the real him, evidently not understanding.

“Say what?”

“I think I should transfer.”

“Transfer? What? What are you talking about?”

His friend’s confusion stumped him a little.

“As in out of Pledis. Go become an athlete, maybe. It’s not too late.”

“Yeah, I still don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

They stare at each other. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Junhui realised he hasn’t properly looked at the other guy.

“What don’t you understand?” There was a pain in his throat. “I’m not good at magic so I should quit while I’m in front!”

“It’s ahead! But still what the fuck? You can’t just say this kind of shit all a sudden! You were just in the middle of fucking training!”

“But for what?!” Junhui was shouting. “There are some things that you can’t obtain through hard work, and I’m not going to be the fool!”

“What’s gotten into you? You’ve never mentioned a word of this and now you’re going to snap at me?”

“Yeah I am! Fuck it! Fuck you! Fuck everything! Why was I even working so hard?! Why do I have to work so hard?! It’s not like I did anything wrong! Fucking damn it! And I never asked for you guys’ help either so you can fucking leave.” 

Anger hung in the air after he finished his speech. Junhui slumped a bit, all the energy seeming to have left his body as rage. Suddenly, he can’t face Soonyoung anymore, so he looked at the floor instead.

He could hear his friend take a few steps towards him and his mind, absolutely blank, struggled to think of what his friend might do.

Soonyoung punched him square on the side of his jaw.

Which was a totally reasonable response, Junhui supposed.

But then, his face was forcefully yanked until the only thing in his line of sight was the very angry face of Kwon Soonyoung. He didn’t notice the weirdness then, but Soonyoung must have used some powers or something in order to match his height in that situation.

“Listen you bastard.” Soonyoung started and Junhui thought the temperature in the room plummeted. “You ARE the most foolish person I’ve ever met.”

Haven’t you been working hard this whole time for yourself?”

Junhui couldn’t respond, frozen.

“Because you have a dream and you have a goal, and when you entered this school you knew on the third goddamn day that it wasn’t going to be easy.”

That’s true. On the third day, they took a little test to see how much latent mana each student had. It was designed to be more fun and games, somewhat akin to knowing your birthstone, but underlying that it was really quite important to know how much you could potentially work with, kind of like assessing your limit, your talent.

Junhui didn’t do well on that test.

“But despite that you’ve worked hard this whole time for yourself. And you pulled through every single bloody time, and we are so fucking proud of you. Of course we know it’s not easy. It’ll never be easy, but you’re not alone. When you get stressed come talk to us instead of holding it in. Like, what the fuck my pride’s actually kind of hurt here. So don’t you dare talk about any of this giving up crap again. You’re doing well, fool, plus you’ve got an aspiration to see to. Work until your all your bones break, you punk.”

Deep in his gut, he knew he would remember this feeling forever, could already feel every detail etching into his mind. He kept silent for a long time, processing, and watched as Soonyoung’s eyes widened to a size so unnatural on the guy, then he bolted out of the practice room. 

All that Junhui could think of then was the strange sensation of renewed confidence tinged with gratitude. And when he finally walked away from his spot, he did so through a puddle of water on the floor, droplets coming to rest on his worn out shoes, which he guessed must have been an aftermath of him and Soonyoung yelling at each other.

Junhui nearly smiles at the memory, swinging his fist down strongly instead.

He wasn’t going to be stopped here. He was much too selfish for that now.

* * *

 

Minghao hears Seokmin through the headpiece. The other was telling him coordinates, the numbers enter Minghao’s stream of consciousness, register in his legs.

The sky is blue, and very high. There was a bit of wind coming from the West, and it smelled of salt and foreign land.

Inwardly, Minghao repeated the mission details to himself again.

 

Escort the people with the case to the armoured vehicles.

Protect them from those with the blue cloth around their arms.

 

Easy.

Crouched behind a carton box, Minghao leaned over to take a small peek to the right, stretching a little further than he’d usually permit. He drew back quickly enough, looking down to catch Seokmin’s attention. He held up two fingers. 

The other male, who was in a similar position to him although behind a different box, on a different floor, nodded and held up three of his own fingers. Then the sign morphs to imitate a gun. Minghao did the same, and in the same breath, moved to press his finger against his earpiece.

“Lucky, there are five confirmed threats in the next storehouse.”

“They’ve all got guns too. What do?” Seokmin asked.

 “Okay, take them out. Quietly.” There was a heavy emphasis on that last word.

Seokmin chirps a cheerful “Roger!” and then titled his head up to look for Minghao. The sight that greeted him was startling, the guy in question halfway through a flip after he spring boarded himself from behind his hiding place.

All the alarm bells go off in Seokmin’s head and he screamed. The rebels turned to look.

On the other hand, Minghao is entirely unfazed, five nanoseconds before his thigh comes into contact with his partner’s face, he blipped, reappearing above one of the enemy’s - the one furthest back - instead.

**Crack.**

The other two are now looking over to see what happened. Just like that Minghao blipped to kick one of them in the jaw. Blipped again. An elbow to the gut.

The ones on the upper floor now lean over the railing, guns in their hands but panic in their shaky hands. There Minghao goes, upwards, higher than both of them. He lets the gravity pull him back down, riding the rush, hands outstretched to reach for their necks. They topple easily, timber, heads meeting the floor with an unpleasant crunch.

“Yah, was scaring me half to death a part of your plan?!” Seokmin was angry hissing.

“Come in Lucky.” Mingaho said in response. “Five targets cleared.”

“Good job, we’re coming in. DK you hold. The8 scout out the next one over.”

“Understood.”

And Minghao was off, tiptoeing towards the next-door storehouse. Seokmin called out one more time with as much volume as he dared in the situation but Minghao never even looked back.

“Stay safe.” He said softly, hoping that at least the gods hear.

* * *

 

The door to the apartment bursts open. It is the single loudest sound that has happened within the confines of the space for almost a day, which was probably why it attracted the attention of everyone who heard it so naturally.

First, Seungcheol stomped in. His steps were loud, thumping and resonating on the floor each time.

He was followed by Jihoon, who though was much softer, brought with him a defiant gaze and the heat of his magic’s intensity rising.

Jeonghan and Joshua came after them, awkwardly trying to be the bridge between the two powering through and the remaining member yet to show.

Lastly, Vernon slightly limped into their threshold.

At that, Seungkwan shot up immediately, pushing aside all the other members to get to the injured male.

“What happened?”

“It’s no big deal, Shua-hyung already healed me.”

“But what happened?” He pressed, eyebrows furrowed.

“Just a small injury, we still got the job done.”

“Yeah got the job done.” Seungcheol scoffed. Jeonghan is already moving to hold him by the arm.

“Cheol, please, we did complete the mission.”

“That’s not the point!” Seungcheol boomed. Jeonghan flinched. Seungkwan pressed closer to Vernon.

“We nearly failed today. And we will continue to nearly fail from here on out if you don’t get your shit together!” Now he was facing Jihoon. Now everyone faced Jihoon.

“I covered for your sorry ass!” Jihoon screamed back. “You fucking misjudged there. The guy almost escaped!”

“Well you almost fucking smashed the very artefact we were trying to retrieve! And you nearly killed Hansol!”

“I didn’t know he was there! And anyway, it wouldn’t have killed him.”

Seungcheol punched the wall.

“You fucker. You wouldn’t say that at all if Soonyoung were the one involved.”

Jihoon’s eyes seemed to glint; suddenly a great gush of black was surging towards Seungcheol at once.

Seungcheol grabs the miasma with his bare hand, which was now sporting intricate glowing tattoos.

Push and push back. The two stood there for a long time, the surrounding people watching, breaths held.

It was Jihoon who retracted first. He yanks his energy back and then with a loud frustrated yell, diverts all of it towards the innocent flowerpot to Seungcheol’s left. Thousands of shattered pieces carpeted the floor and Jihoon nowhere to be found, only a faint trail of quickly dissolving magic to indicate his path further into the apartment. 

Quickly Mingyu jumped up, setting to work magic-ing the shards back into one whole flowerpot before anyone cut themselves on it. No one else really knew what to do with themselves, standing around, shifting their weight from one foot to another.

Thankfully, Seungcheol called for a debrief then, all the pairs of feet almost leaping to their spots in the common area. They all ignore the fact that their leader skipped roll call. As well as the fact that there were five less people among them.

There wasn’t much to talk about. The stay home team largely stayed home. Wonwoo reported the bodyguard job to have gone through without a hitch. He even threw in a few good words about Minghao’s performance.

Seungcheol didn’t have anything new to add about their team’s mission, a significant amount of which had already been stitched together by the others anyway. So they disperse for the day.

Seungkwan zoomed straight to Vernon, fingers poking and prodding at his leg, while Vernon tried his hardest not to protest.

Seungcheol left as soon as he uttered the words “dismiss”, retreating into his room. Jeonghan stood at the cusp of the common area and hallway, leaning over but not quite leaving. It was Joshua who came up to him, resting a hand on his shoulder, looked him seriously in the eyes, and then Jeonghan was gone, long hair tumbling after him.

“Where’s Jun?” Joshua asked.

“I last saw him in the practice room about an hour ago.” Wonwoo said.

“I last saw him in the practice room six hours ago.” Mingyu chimed in, leaving a nasty feeling of apprehension in the air.

“I should go check on him.” Joshua announced, already making his way. Then he halted with such suddenness, he jerked forward a little. “How about Chan?”

“He’s sleeping.” Seungkwan answered without missing a beat. “He’s been sleeping through most of the day.” Here Vernon gave him a stink eye.

“Has he eaten?”

“I’ll bring him something.” Minghao said and disappeared.

Even though there is no recipient, Joshua said “okay” anyway, before going back to heading to the practice room. Mingyu and Wonwoo share a look, one biting his lips, one scrunching his nose, and they get up to follow.

Silently, Seokmin slipped away.

* * *

 

When Jeonghan poked his head through the hole that he’d opened, he saw Seungcheol sitting silently on the edge of his bed, head hung, shoulders slumped.

His gut twisted uncomfortably on sight.

He padded over to stand in front of him, wordlessly wrapping his arms around the man, pressing Seungcheol’s face into that space just between his chest and abdomen, a hand lifted to run fingers through the man’s hair.

For some time he listens to them breathing, fingers absentmindedly moving on their own. Then he felt the material of his shirt start to damp, and now there was the sound of occasional sniffling. He pressed them closer together, partly with the hope of comforting, and partly knowing he had to hold on to something before his spirit crumbled.

The second part doesn’t really work out, tears falling to land plip plip plip on Seungcheol’s hair.

Seungcheol moved his lips, the feeling ticklish against the fabric of his shirt despite the situation. His fingers halt.

“Are you sure?”

He pried Seungcheol away from him to look him in the eyes.

“I am. I won’t be able to stand losing so many members overnight.”

“You know I will always support your decision.” Jeonghan told him. “Okay, let’s do that.”

* * *

 

The sight that greeted the trio was not pretty.

Through the glass of the practice room door they looked in to see Junhui executing kick after kick alone, sounds of shoes squeaking against rubber mats slipping through. By now, his shirt’s been completely soaked with sweat, and the fan that he has in his hands are actually a little torn.

As he moved, every muscle in his body clearly wobbled with effort. Yet he pressed on, biting on pale lips, clouded focus in his squinted eyes, and bruises peppering his skin.

Joshua went ahead, braved the punches to hold Junhui firmly by the shoulders. Junhui stopped moving his limbs, but recognition doesn’t fill his features. He gulped air.

“Jun. How long have you been practicing?”

Junhui furrowed his brows. He couldn’t count the hours if he didn’t know what time it currently was. “Since I sent you off.” He said in place. Almost spontaneously, his knees give up on him, as if they did the math and only just realised how long they’ve been in use. 

Joshua frowned at that but he crouched to take Junhui’s hand to examine the blisters from holding a weapon so long. Despite heaving a long sigh, he cannot help tracing the area with his finger, working on closing the wound.

“I still have to train.”

Wonwoo smacked him on the head. “And what are you going to do? You can barely move. Your weapon is ruined.”

“Mingyu could fix that.”

On cue, Mingyu bent down to pick up the dropped fan.

“Mingyu don’t.” Wonwoo instructed.

Mingyu froze.

“Wonwoo, I need to practice.”

“You need to rest.”

Mouth drawn in a tight line, Joshua pretended he couldn’t understand, concentrating on patching up their friend first. Meanwhile, Mingyu had just straightened his back, eyes constantly flitting from Junhui on the floor to Wonwoo standing up, the fan balancing delicately in his hands the whole time. 

“Mingyu.” Junhui said in a low voice, looking at him with those fiery intense eyes of his. Mingyu gulped and made quick work of the ripped portions.

“Mingyu.” Wonwoo said as well, his eyes were equally intense but with a lot less heat and more cold. Mingyu gulped again, quickly undoing his fix.

Junhui tried one more time but Mingyu took one wary look at Wonwoo and decided that removing both himself and the fan from the area was the best course of action.

Seeing the last of Mingyu’s sneakers vanish from his vision, Junhui turned with great effort to glare at Wonwoo.

“I’m going to force feed you paralysing potion if you don’t take a break right now.” Wonwoo declared. “You can’t even move to defend yourself, it’d be so easy.”

It was a logical argument but Junhui’s not about to be beat by that yet. There wasn’t a single part of him that was seriously injured; therefore he was still in good enough shape to carry on.

“I-“

“I agree with Wonwoo.” Joshua piped in then, breaking his silence. “Look at you. You’re pushing yourself too far.”

“Just let me, I have to.” Junhui tried reasoning, but he was getting tired and his voice became softer, his arm going limp in Joshua’s hold.

“No you don’t.” Mingyu said, emerging from the door. Apparently, he hadn’t left at all, though the fan was nowhere to be seen. “Hyung I don’t know what happened back there but you don’t have to feel fully responsible.”

Junhui scoffed but it was weak with fatigue, coming out with a huff like a deflating balloon. “Even though you just said you weren’t there.”

The comment made Mingyu take an uneasy step back.

“Of course.” Wonwoo supplied, reaching over to grab Mingyu by the wrist to tug him closer to them. “We’re a team. That means we are all responsible for whatever happens. Even me, even Shua-hyung, even Mingyu, and even that idiot who got caught.”

At first Junhui blinked, then he laughed. Dividing the failure of one person into thirteen? What kind of mathematical hocus pocus! But then his shoulders shake harder than he wanted, and the sound slowly but surely transitions from laughter to crying. 

“We can do this if we’re together.” Joshua rubbed circles on his back. “So don’t go off on your own, alright?”

And Junhui turned to shield the other’s eyes from his crying image, burrowing into Joshua’s chest. Mingyu joined them. Leaning in from Junhui’s side, balancing on the tips of his toes, he looked up expectantly at Wonwoo. The male makes a face but crouched down anyway and gingerly puts one hand on both Junhui and Mingyu’s backs.

Unsurprisingly, it was Mingyu who caved first, his legs trembling for a few moments before he tilted, and sent their formation collapsing to the ground. He’s apologising profusely while Wonwoo groaned about the soreness in his thighs, and Joshua giggled, and Junhui makes a sort of amused sound with his eyes slipping close, breathing even.

* * *

 

_Our Jihoon._

On the first day of school, when everyone was excited and nervous and concerned about leaving good first impressions, Jihoon put someone in the infirmary.

He wouldn’t remember the guy, nor the crime the poor soul committed that irritated him so much he could only think about wanting to rip the guy’s throat out to shut him up. It felt like he heard the situation more than he saw it, surroundings plunged into noise, everyone screaming something, it had all been very loud.

But the noise ebbed away, eventually, leaving him in a silence too quiet. It was kind of funny, how people who shy away from him in such coordinated movements, like as if it were as natural as North and South poles being unable to meet. Or how they didn’t even dare to whisper his name behind the backs of backs in case the walls would hear them. He much rather had the silence, Jihoon thought.

One person. Among the thirty odd classmates, only one person ever actually talked to him.

“Do you have your form?” He would say.

Jeon Wonwoo, the class monitor.

There was a silly story about how the guy became class monitor.

Because there had been this other guy who wound up in the infirmary on the first day, an important difference being that he did it to himself, and Wonwoo who had really gotten close with him over orientation agreed to deliver all the notes and forms passed out during lessons. Which, by extension, solidified him as the class general admin person, to the point where the teacher in charge forgot to officially appoint anyone.

Jihoon always handed in his papers when asked without a word, but he also never approached Wonwoo before the guy came to him.

He was at least a little thankful that Wonwoo never displayed any overt signs that he didn’t want to be standing next to Jihoon, asking for things on behalf of the class. Well, in all honesty, Wonwoo didn’t have much expression most of the time so it was a little hard to really tell. Sometimes Jihoon wondered if that mystery person had never put himself in the infirmary, then would Wonwoo ever be considered for class monitor since he had this intimidating look, and always sat quietly by himself in a corner, nose covered by a book.

The mystery person who still hadn’t shown up to a class once, by the way.

It’s been weeks into the school term, and Jihoon felt himself grow less concerned yet more curious as the time passed. What kind of person could injure himself so bad at in magic school that he couldn’t show up to class for weeks? This person. This friend of Wonwoo’s.

**

“Has anything like this ever even happened in the history of this school?” Jihoon asked.

Seungcheol hummed without looking up from his phone screen, unperturbed. “Unprecedented.”

“This guy must be setting some kind of record here.”

The phone lets out a more pings. “Why don’t you just go visit him and see for yourself.” Seungcheol suggested dryly, the words of someone who’s said it many times before.

“It’ll be weird.”

“Not if you talk to Jeon Wonwoo first.”

“I can’t.”

Seungcheol would roll his eyes if it hadn’t been for the need to look at the screen. He sighed. “Jeonghan thinks you need more friends than just me. And I agree.”

“You agree with anything Jeonghan says.” Jihoon accused.

“We just happen to agree a lot but you,” Seungcheol said putting down the phone, “still need to talk to more people.”

“You know I can’t.”

“You just don’t want to.”

Then Seungcheol had to leave to go meet some other people for an assignment, leaving Jihoon sitting alone on the couch in his dorm.

**

Jihoon resolutely doesn’t say a word more than he has to to Wonwoo, who continued to come by his desk frequently to ask for submissions or forms. Maybe, he was doing that to spite Seungcheol.

For the longest time he held his tongue when he saw Wonwoo sit at the back throughout class or calmly approach tables as part of his duty. One day, a Chinese boy came in looking for Wonwoo with a huge grin on his face. And when Jihoon saw him smile back, he really couldn’t help but tear open his pencil case with some extra force.

Just like that, he started cutting Wonwoo off by shoving whatever he was asking for into his hands before the other got to finish speaking, seeing him off with a glare.

Predictably, Wonwoo doesn’t even raise an eyebrow.

**

The days start to get warmer.

Which was coincidentally when a certain blond pyrokinetic walked into class for the first time.

“Hello, nice to meet you, my name is Kwon Soonyoung. Yeah, I know it’s been like a looong time since school started but I look forward to working with all of you.”

Some people giggle.

Jihoon found the guy to be nothing like his friend. Soonyoung was bright and hard not to notice, whether he heard his voice drifting down the hall or saw the eye-catching yellow of his hair in the corner of his eye. His presence always made itself known. Jihoon could hear him laugh so clearly, high pitched but coming from deep in his chest, even though he sat in the first row, and Soonyoung was way back in the last.

The guy mostly stuck with Wonwoo, well he probably owed Wonwoo a whole lot, but he smiled and told jokes as easily as he breathed and the cliques, although not quite making space for him, allowed him to slide in and out between them like flowing water.

It was the most annoying thing.

Naturally, some of the girls crowded around to ask him about his injury out of curiosity.

Wonwoo smirked. “A burning question indeed.”

Soonyoung smacked his shoulder. “You shit.” He said to his friend. Then turning to the girls, “I set myself on fire.”

Ridiculous.

“It was a real warming sight.”

This time girls laugh along. Soonyoung groaned as Wonwoo chuckled.

Ridiculous.

Jihoon had to remove himself from the vicinity right then, so he shot out of his seat, power walked out of the class, and for good measure, just so he could shut out the reality behind him, he put extra strength into closing the door.

Inside, the conversations faded. Soonyoung raised an eyebrow at the girls biting their lips; Wonwoo shrugged at him.

**

“Oh yeah what happened to that mystery boy you were so curious about?” Seungcheol said by way of starting conversation.

Jihoon threw a pillow at him.

“Okay noted.”

**

One morning after that, Jihoon showed up early to class, way before anyone else, all but throwing himself into his seat.

“Hey!”

He snapped his head in the direction to find Kwon Soonyoung there, with that goddamn smile still on his face. Jihoon thought about taking it away.

“Sup, I don’t think we’ve properly met but I’m Soonyoung, it’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s not so nice to meet you.”

Soonyoung actually laughed. “Funny. So hey, like, tell me about yourself.”

“Look, asshole, if you keep talking to me, I’m going to put you in the infirmary.”

“That rhymed!”

Jihoon growled, felt the thick miasma of his magic extend towards the guy. Soonyoung made a squeaky noise, raising his hand, and Jihoon lost the feeling of his magic. At first he was puzzled, of course, then the cold started creeping up his shoulder and he looked over to notice that it wasn’t his magic that had stopped at all, but his arm was encased in ice, killing off the feeling in it.

He opened and closed his mouth.

“You said you burned yourself.”

“Well, I did." 

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

Muffled voices come floating from the corridor; suddenly neither Jihoon nor Soonyoung knew what they were talking about. Soonyoung dashed for his seat quickly, taking Jihoon’s breath away with him.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jihoon sat through the normalcy of the day: the students filing in, the bell chiming, the teacher coming to class. And right at the front of his thoughts were the pair of sharp eyes and his arm still sort of numb. 

“- so this is very important. Now, I will announce the pairs.”

“Can we make swaps?” Someone asked.

“No, swapping. I’ve already randomly paired all you guys up.”

Ah, there it was, the uncomfortable tenseness in the air.

 

_Oh Heejun and Park Jinwoo._

_Jung Yerin and Hirai Momo_

Name and another name, on and on.

Some shoulders relax, some contract extra hard. A roller coaster climbing the ascend… until it dropped.

“Lee Jihoon and Kwon Soonyoung.”

For some reason Jihoon laughed.

**

Soonyoung was only slightly uncomfortable to be partnered with his short fused classmate, more because of the incident that morning. Around him, a few classmates shot him apologetic looks that he bowed in response to.

What an amazing fate.

When the last bell rang, he caught Jihoon skedaddling away on his tiny legs.

“Did you manage to talk to him?” Wonwoo inquired, poking a finger into his cheek.

Soonyoung made a half affirmative, half dismissive sound.

Junhui came skipping into their classroom at that moment. “Finallllllllllly in class!” He joked, slinging an arm around his friend’s shoulder. He contemplated the atmosphere a bit. “Why do you look like you need to go back again already though?”

“Lee Jihoon.” Wonwoo answered for him, which didn’t really explain anything.

“So, like, that’s a bad thing?”

“Kind of?” Soonyoung went.

“He’s got a reputation.” Wonwoo added. “For putting people in infirmaries.”

There is an error in interpretation as Junhui barked out a laugh, coming to a trailing stop when nobody laughed with him. “That’s not the issue is it?”

This time, Wonwoo just shrugged, passing the baton to Soonyoung.

“Well, he seems kind of difficult to deal with is all. No biggie.”

Junhui and Wonwoo raise eyebrows at each other. Then Wonwoo’s excusing himself to go to his shift at the library, letting the other two trail off to the practice room.

It’s been awhile since it was last the two of them in that very space. Junhui still thought about the spilt water on the floor.

Soonyoung stretched excitedly. This would be his first time doing his share of exercise rather than just looking on. Junhui had to smile back.

They practiced their own movements, even sparring comfortably, big smile and buoyant laughter.

**

The times when Seungcheol arranged to meet anywhere other than training facility or one of their dorms were few and far between, but this was one of those times.

He insisted, said something about having a project he needed to complete but also a big thing to tell Jihoon. Which is how Jihoon found himself going into the freezing campus library for the second time in his school life.

Seungcheol was sat at one of the smaller tables, five different books open around him and a laptop illuminating his ragged face.

“You look like shit.”

Seungcheol looked up.

“You!” He hissed at a library appropriate level. “You didn’t tell me your mystery boy was Kwon bloody Soonyoung.”

Again with that name, Jihoon nearly cussed. He’d heard that name too many times recently.

“What are you talking about?”

“Jesus Ji, the Committee have been keeping tabs on him for a while now. Holy shit, I should have realised sooner. You said he didn’t show up for awhile when class started didn’t you? I should have realised!”

Jihoon smacked his palm against Seungcheol’s mouth. “What the heck are you trying to get at?”

“They’re officially adding him to the roster for the programme.”

“What?”

“He didn’t set himself on fire that day, Ji, he was melting ice. His own fire, his own ice.”

Seungcheol let the information sink in.

“Fuck no.”

“But yes.”

“Fuck no!” A number of angry glances come shooting over.

“Yes, Ji, we’ve got a dual wielder.”

Jihoon didn’t know what he wanted to do anymore.

He considered everything that had happened thus far. Thought about all the time spent after school with just Seungcheol and Jeonghan and Joshua, all of them training extra hard for the programme.

The Programme: Pledis School of Magic’s plans for a first special ops unit comprised of their finest magic users of each generation.

“Do Jeonghan and Joshua know?”

Seungcheol shook his head. “Look here, I know I said officially but actually he’s declined so it’s kind of blurry right now. The Committee won’t leave him alone though.”

“Why did you tell me then?”

“Because he’s like us, I suppose.” Seungcheol said with a shrug. “Jeonghan’s really talented with his magic, and Joshua’s got a good affinity between his personality and his gift, but you and I, and him too I guess, we’re born into this.”

Goddamn the air-conditioning was much too cold.

**

There was a small piece of paper neatly folded and placed on his desk.

‘Assignment?’

It read in small, somewhat round handwriting. Soonyoung couldn’t help the giggle that slipped out.

‘Canteen after class?’ He wrote back. Then he feinted going to the trashcan, expertly slipping the paper onto the other’s table. The next few moments, he watched Jihoon unfurl the paper with unexpected grace, eyes scanning the words quickly before he turned back to look at Soonyoung.

Soonyoung hurriedly put up his thumb. Jihoon turned back around.

**

The problem with canteens is that they were much too crowded at any time of the day, someone always deciding to grab a meal, a snack, a drink. As usual, Soonyoung was easy to spot with that overwhelmingly bright hair, and Jihoon went straight towards him, grabbed his wrist, and dragged.

He took him to the park on campus, where the leaves filtered the sunlight that shone down upon the gravel path. They settled at one of the park’s tables.

One of them start talking about the project, Jihoon didn’t know who. It could have been him, though, everything seemed like such a hazy picture. All he knew was that Soonyoung sat across him comfortably, talking about the work with enough seriousness, throwing in a smile here and there.

“You weren’t lying.”

Soonyoung paused in the middle of explaining his intricate relationship with making presentation slides.

“Pardon? I mean I’ve never lied but pardon?”

“You set yourself on fire, and you froze my hand. I know.”

That shut him up. Jihoon kind of mused about how, of all things to finally get the idiot to stop talking, it was this. And to such a point where he couldn’t even respond either.

“Do your friends know?” Jihoon tried his luck. “Jeon Wonwoo and the Chinese boy?” 

Soonyoung shook his head. “No. I haven’t told anyone. Well, I might have accidentally shown it but…

“Why not?”

Jihoon knew he wasn’t going to get a clear answer in any case. There was no way Soonyoung was going to talk about the programme to him since it was classified information, and Soonyoung didn’t know Jihoon knew. 

A breeze picked up, rustling the leaves as it went, until Jihoon found himself leaning closer to hear. 

“I don’t know.” Soonyoung finally said. “I think I just want to the expectations to stop for a bit.” 

Strange how something can go unnoticed for so long until it became noticed and then doesn’t stop being noticed. Because Jihoon was suddenly transfixed at the sight of wind gently caressing his hair and sunlight shining in his eyes glazed over.

Two days after that, they meet to show each other what they have, bouncing off ideas and tweaks.

The day after that, they decide it’s better to work on the whole thing together if they were going to have so much to discuss. They sat with each other in the park until the sky turned orange. Then they grabbed food at the canteen on the way back to the dorms, earning dirty looks from the lunch lady who had been trying to close up.

The day after that day, they’d finished most of their assignment but Jihoon was helping Soonyoung with some of the lessons he’d missed due to his injury. They were in the library, sat side by side on one side of the table because Jihoon hated the air-conditioning with intensity. Sometimes, Soonyoung reached over to point at something, brushing their arms against each other’s. Sometimes, Jihoon had to get his phone from his pocket, pressing gently into Soonyoung’s space, and then he’d do the same to put the thing back.

Wonwoo walked past a few times whilst on duty, unable to stop his eyebrows from rising whenever he did. Until he went by for about the sixth time that day, a few books in hand, and saw Lee will put you in the infirmary Jihoon smile, no giggle, at his friend.

He felt his arms go slack with surprise.

“Join the club.” Someone told him, and he turned around to see a smart looking guy staring at him, amusement twinkling in his eyes.

The guy threw a glance back, urging Wonwoo to do the same. So he did, catching sight of another guy, who had long shiny hair, staring intently at the pair from behind a book.

“Shua you’re going to blow my cover.” He said a little urgently.

“Don’t be silly, no one reads like that.” ‘Shua’ responded.

“Well he’s absolutely right.” Wonwoo said.

Between Jeonghan’s gasp, Joshua’s nod, and Wonwoo’s laugh, the three of them befriended each other.

**

“Stalking is such an ugly word,” Jeonghan claimed, using his camera’s zoom function to observe the pair more closely. 

Joshua rolled his eyes super hard. “Wonwoo.”

The boy hummed, effortlessly reaching over to pluck Jeonghan’s phone from his hand. “Please don’t, this is a library.”

“Yah, I’m still older than you, punk.”

Though he doesn’t mention that it took a long time before he actually believed that because the younger boy looked so fierce most of the time.

“And come on, this is Jihoonie’s first friend, scratch that, first social interaction outside of us, you’ve got to be curious!”

“Nooo.” Junhui whined a little. Having had his sparring partner suddenly preoccupied, he ended up joining the library gang at Wonwoo’s suggestion.

Joshua patted his head.

“I should be practicing now,” Junhui continued. “But they’re so disgusting, I can’t.”

“He gets it.” Jeonghan nodded to himself.

The quartet went back to craning their necks to get better views until Seungcheol came through the door, like a thunder.

“Jihoon! My man, I’ve been looking for you, dude, where have you bee-“

Friendship born from unity was a truly splendid thing.

In a flash, Wonwoo stepped, stepped, stepped, travelling across the shadows to appear in front of Seungcheol, shielding the couple from him, saying something about not making noise in the library.

Joshua said something similar, except that he was standing behind Seungcheol, urging him back out the door by tugging at his sleeves. Junhui had lunged to grab Jeonghan and quickly tumbled in the other direction, out of sight. Jeonghan, who, lifted all their belongings off the table with a snap of his fingers, pulling everything towards him until there was zero trace of anybody having been in those very seats they were just in a few seconds prior.

Seungcheol stumbled out, eyes wide, unable to calm his heartbeat. His friends working cheerily with some other people he’d never met.

“The fuck?”

“Sorry, Cheol but you nearly blew our cover.” Joshua explained, a teensy bit of guilt in the furrow of his brow.

“Jeonghan fucking flew to the other side?!”

“He’ll be okay, Jun’s an expert.”

“Who are you?!”

“Ah, sorry, Cheol this is our new friend, Jeon Wonwoo.” Joshua gestured towards the guy. “Wonwoo, this is Choi Seungcheol, close friend of Jeonghan and I." 

Wonwoo extended a hand, Seungcheol’s jaw dropped. 

“You’re the Jeon Wonwoo?!” He shrieked, already thinking about jumping into the nearest body of water.

Soonyoung and Jihoon don’t even notice.

**

The last weekend they spent as first years pass just like any other weekend of the rest of the year. They were all assembled in the practice room, which was becoming more like their common area than a practice room.

Junhui still worked on some of his moves after most of the others had gone to take a break, Jeonghan already spread out like a starfish on the floor, ignoring reality.

Both Seungcheol and Wonwoo had collided into each other while doing their own routines, and now Joshua was sat between the both of them tending to their scratches with all his attention.

Jihoon had excused himself to go to the roof earlier, saying it smelt like a lot of sweat, while Soonyoung was doing the last of his move set. When he was done, he padded his way out of the room, accompanied by the groaning of the rest of the members.

Outside, the air was much sharper, making itself known against his sweaty skin. Soonyoung ran up the stairs, throwing open the roof access. The sky was gray, the floor was gray, and Jihoon was in his ugly blue shorts, standing on his tiptoes to look down at the landscape around.

“If you touch me, I am seriously going to rip your head off.”

So Soonyoung doesn’t. Instead, he planted himself right beside him, inhaling the same air.

“You want to know a secret?”

No.

“My ability is what they call Demon’s Magic. They say it’s in my blood, that is has a life of its own. They say I’m the only one in Korea.”

Soonyoung bit his lip.

“Seungcheol is half golem, did you know that?”

“Kind of.”

“Explains a bit about him, huh?“ Jihoon said. “You can’t escape from something that keeps you alive.”

When Soonyoung reached out a hand, black miasma slapped it away. “Don’t, touch me.”

Soonyoung doesn’t. 

** 

Downstairs, Jeonghan let out a long-suffering sigh.

“Don’t be like that hyung.” Junhui chastised.

“I knew the two of them would be a bad idea.” Jeonghan muttered.

“You were still squealing about their cuteness yesterday.” Joshua stated.

“But I wasn’t thinking. Those two are stubborn and stubborn-er.”

Seungcheol sighed.

“They’ll be okay.” Wonwoo said. 

The clock struck midnight while they were all lying on the floor, Wonwoo in the midst of asking some questions about the Potionology module that he was really looking forward to. Jeonghan gave a joking answer, like he had just been taking the class earlier in the day. Joshua elaborated like it’d been ages since he graduated from it.

With the new year came the addition of three more members into the programme to make the current team of Jeonghan and Joshua, Wonwoo and Junhui, who graduated top of the first years in their respective times. Along with Seungcheol, Jihoon, and Soonyoung.

The third years laugh at their juniors who were giddy about having juniors of their own.

All the newcomers bring someone new with them into the practice room.

There’s a new Chinese boy in school, and Junhui introduced himself the very first chance he got. The boy, Minghao, had an interesting accent, and wide eyes that seemed to sparkle.

It had been quite hard for him to understand the others at first, but he hung around, listening, asking questions until he got comfortable. Besides, when it was time to practice, there would be this hardness to him that inspired awe as he flipped and blipped around a space.

The person Wonwoo brought in was named Mingyu and really tall. A few days after Minghao, he walked in with a face that looked like he was going to challenge everybody for leadership right there and then, but then his feet hook over the carpet and he’s 180cm of falling on the floor.

“He’s always like this.” Wonwoo told them fondly, being experienced in the ways of Mingyu’s clumsiness. He also told them of how they met, which was coincidentally because Mingyu knocked over an entire shelf while Wonwoo was the only one of library duty.

Mingyu pouted and smacked Wonwoo’s arm.

And as the saying goes, the best is saved for last, which is exactly the case when Soonyoung pulled Seokmin into the room two weeks into the year.

Seokmin was literally the brightest presence among them, drawing them in like moths to a flame. One was because he was always full of positivity, carefree and smiley. The other thing was that he literally commanded light at his will, whether it be making it or diverting it.

Jihoon decided he despised him the most. Seokmin was so loud all the time, and he never seemed to have any emotion other than happy, which was super annoying.

Soonyoung said he first met the guy when Seokmin joined him in a duet of ‘Barbie Girl’ in the middle of the canteen. There was a bet and a dare, and Soonyoung was giving it his all doing the falsetto in the female part, just about to switch to a deeper voice for the male part, when he was cut off by a voice belonging to a person he didn’t know.

It was like they were made for each other. Soonyoung would crack jokes, Seokmin reciprocated. Seokmin would start gag dancing, Soonyoung joined in.

Some people called it a match made in heaven. Jihoon found it to be hellish.

The practice room, now always filled with the sound of laughing, was much too loud for Jihoon. He had always been the type of person to prefer silence anyway. So he stopped showing up.

**

Soonyoung came to him one day, all by himself, eyes downcast.

“Jihoon, can we talk?”

Really, Jihoon thought he hated Seokmin the most, but when Soonyoung appeared before him, the truth was suddenly revealed to him.

“Fuck off, Kwon.”

Soonyoung recoiled. “Ji, please, talk to me. I want to talk to you. It’s been so long.”

“I can do whatever I damn well want, and that’s not talking to you.”

“Jihoon-“

Jihoon thought about flinging him out of the window, pushing past to run far away, leaving Soonyoung where he stood, alone in the classroom.

**

He continued to avoid the practice room because of the noise. No one told him how silent it’d been since. Seungcheol tried once, he sat on Jihoon’s bed as he was going to sleep and tried to say something but Jihoon decided he didn’t want to hear it and the miasma whipped out at Seungcheol until he went away.

*

One sunny afternoon, he received an anonymous letter addressed to him, telling him to go to the roof. There was the unmistakable suspicion that it was one of the Practice Room members, although he didn’t know which one. The person used that method of cutting out letters from magazines so he wouldn’t be able to figure it out by handwriting. Jihoon ruled out maybe three guys.

And he sincerely had no intention to go but his legs took him up the stairs anyhow. Opening the door to find Seokmin stood there, waiting, hands stuffed in his pockets.

As soon as Seokmin noticed him, he snapped his fingers. Beams of light refract around Jihoon, ensnaring him in a cube of it. Heat emanated off the surface of the barrier, telling Jihoon he shouldn’t touch. Jihoon held his breath and counted to ten.

“Erm okay… hyung? First of all I’m sorry but I really need you to listen to me here.”

“You think this can keep me down?” Jihoon asked. 

“Well, not really, but I’m going to gamble. On the type of person the other hyungs say you are.”

Jihoon summoned his energy.

“On the type of person Soonyoung hyung says you are!”

It felt like someone doused Jihoon with a whole bucket of water at the sound of the name.

There it was, Soonyoung again.

“What do you want to say?”

“Oh, yes, don’t you think you’re being too hard on hyung? I think you’re too much. I don’t know what happened, nobody really wants to talk about it, but isn’t it enough? You won’t even look at him, he’s really upset.”

“I’m really going to kill you." 

“You can. I’m dense but you’re even worse than me. You can kill me, but please forgive Soonyoung hyung.”

“There is nothing for me to forgive.”

“But you are angry.”

“I am not. It doesn’t matter what Soonyoung wants to do in his life.”

Seokmin narrowed his eyes.

“You know, I said I’d bet on the kind of person Soonyoung says you are but you don’t know what he’s said, do you?”

That did pique Jihoon’s curiosity a little, a tiny badump of the heart.

“He says you’re the cutes-“

But he doesn’t get to finish the sentence because Jihoon had broken free of his constraints then, miasma inches from the poor guy’s face, separated only by a layer of ice.

“Well hyung can tell you the rest himself, I guess.” Seokmin said easily, with a dash of his usual cheer, before he slipped away, pass where Soonyoung stood, and through the door.

Jihoon refused to turn around, Soonyoung didn’t dare take a step forward. 

But eventually someone has to cave.

“Explain yourself.”

“You mean me thinking you’re cute?”

Soonyoung closed the door behind him, leaning all of his weight against it, despite not putting it pass Jihoon to jump over the railing if he had to.

“I think you’re cute.”

Jihoon looked dangerously like he was going to step forward, away. Soonyoung commanded a line of fire just a fraction before his feet, coaxing the male to step back.

“I think you’re cute in the sense that you’re small and adorable.”

He drew another line, steering the feet back again.

“But I also think you’re cute in the sense that I find you incredibly attractive.”

Another line, another step back.

“At the same time I think you’re lovely. You always work your hardest, it’s respectable and enviable." 

Back and back again.

“And you care so much about others, even though you’re so bad at displaying it. But you still try.”

Thump. Jihoon felt his heel reach the points of Soonyoung’s shoes.

Soonyoung wrapped his arm around the other boy’s figure.

“It’s like I thought the world of you one minute, then I thought you deserved the world the next. I didn’t know what I wanted to do.”

Soonyoung buried his face into Jihoon’s neck.

“I figured it out, eventually. I want to show it to you; that you’re special, that you’re deserving. And I don’t want anyone else to be able to show you that but me.”

Jihoon had to swallow the lump in his throat away before he could speak. “I don’t get you at all.”

Soonyoung spun him around. There were some tears in Jihoon’s eyes and he wiped them away so that the other could clearly see him while he spoke his next words. Because they were important words.

“What I’m trying to say, Lee Jihoon, is that I love you.”

“You’re lying.”

“You know I don’t lie.”

“That’s a lie, you’re lying right now.” Jihoon could feel the prick of the tears coming again.

Soonyoung smiled. “Well, I’ve said my piece, will you give me a response?”

Jihoon found his tongue grew heavy, unable to move. There was the urge to flee bubbling up inside him again. He swallowed hard, willing himself to stay. To stop being the one who always ran and hid. 

Soonyoung looked so soft in the light, and this time he felt his legs twitch, so he ducked his head back down, holding tightly onto the front of the other’s shirt.

“I think you’re going to regret this.” Jihoon started. “I’m not half as good as you say I am. I’m jealous, and I’m short-tempered, and I’m destructive, and a coward.”

Fat tears were rolling down his cheeks down, the emotions steamrolling now that they’ve started.

“But I like you too. I hated your fucking everything at first. Then I fell for you, and your stupid face and your stupid jokes, and I’ve been in love with you for so long. And I’ve been so shitty about it this whole time. I can’t believe you liked me back. I can’t believe you still like me.”

Jihoon was rambling on; so Soonyoung leant down to stop the words with his mouth.

**

“Are we really going to need codenames?”

“It is kind of necessary. We’re kind of special ops or something.”

“Let’s focus here. Next is Jihoon’s.”

“Angels and Demons.”

There was a groan.

“Lee-mon Demon.”

Jeonghan, Joshua, Seokmin, Seungkwan, and Jihoon himself, performed an acapella of groans.

“Woozi.” Soonyoung said.

“Why?” Seungcheol asked.

“Our (uri) Jihoon!”

“Aww how cute, welp that’s settled.”

Jihoon continued his solo protest until Soonyoung wrapped his arms around him, and the complaints die out into grumblings.

Although he only finally shut up after Soonyoung laced their fingers together and squeezed.

* * *

 

Seokmin knocked twice before throwing the door wide open without permission.

“It’s your favourite person in the world!” Seokmin sing-songed towards Jihoon, who had been sitting at his desk, staring blankly at the photo frames lining it.

“Says who?” Jihoon retorted with a sad laugh.

“Boyfriend and childhood friends don’t count.”

The tone honestly shook away his sadness for a bit.

“Not even then, you prick.”

“I’m here because you’re upset. Though that’s usually not my job, but I gotta do it for my favourite hyung when he’s busy.”

Jihoon held back something. “You say that like he’s just gone to make a short trip to the convenience store.”

Seokmin’s smile faltered, the corners of his lips pulling down. Jihoon did feel a little bit guilty.

“I know he’s alive. As long as he’s alive, I believe he’ll come back to us. He promised.”

Jihoon remained silent.

“Hyung never lied to us, that’s why. Not in this lifetime.”

Jihoon got up, extending himself upwards to smack Seokmin on the top of his head. Leaving his palm there heavily, he proceeded to ruffle the other’s hair.

“Go take a bath, idiot, you were out on a mission today.” He scolded. Then with all the light-heartedness he could muster, “plus, you can earn all the brownie points you want but we all know Chan’s his favourite.”

Seokmin made a mock shock expression. “No way!” He exclaimed. “I’ve got to step up my game then. By pleasing his boyfriend, I’ll go take a bath now as you’ve asked me to. See you later, hyung!”

“Sure, see you later.”

But Jihoon poked his head out of the door just a few seconds after.

“Hey Seokmin!” He called.

Seokmin stopped, whirled around.

“Thanks for everything though.”

* * *

 

With a great earthquake, Seungcheol summoned everyone into the common area a little past midnight. Most of them drag themselves in quite conscious for the time.

“Urgent announcement!

48 hours from now, we will begin a search and rescue mission. The location is Yeoseo-do. The target is Hoshi. From this moment until then, I want everybody involved. We’ll start the pre-mission now, so intel team and weapons team, get ready. We will take turns to train in intervals by unit. That’s all for now. We will meet again at 0600, nap if you need to, see you then.”

“Understood!”

Nobody tried to go back sleep.

Chan could feel his alertness steadily rise the more it became obvious what Seungcheol was telling him, telling them, to do.

In some sense he didn’t even have a proper memory of any event that happened after Jeonghan forced him into bed the night before. It felt like a long fever dream, sometimes he saw things distant in time, when he was just a toddler in Iksan, but then he saw himself a teenager in Pledis, then even on missions with his teammates. And sometimes, he saw a glowing hand cover his eyes.

Shaking away the thought, Chan bounced over to Jihoon to ask for the most recent map of the area. Quite expectedly, Jihoon was already on it, his laptop brought out before anyone noticed. 

After Chan downloaded the documents off the laptop, he bid the group an enthusiastic goodbye, jumping out the window. Mid-air the form of Chan shifts and moulds until a new creature is in place, one of wings and beak, riding the wind up, until he’s far above the view from the window from whence he came.

Jihoon watched him go with a little pride. Then he stalked over to Vernon and Minghao who had gotten into their usual positions by their own computers, one accessing the English databases, the other Chinese. Together, they sieved through everything they could find. From immediate information, like daylight hours or weather conditions, to particular things, like wave and wind patterns around the coast. Anything that could help them familiarise with the environment. 

Wonwoo came to tap Seokmin on the shoulder, the both of them sharing some mutual understanding, and they headed away to Wonwoo’s mini laboratory. Seokmin went straight to the vials at the back, casting some light on them. Then he opened a big cabinet, counting off the glass bottles with an index finger. He called out the numbers loudly.

Standing on the other side, Wonwoo listened, ticking off numbers in his head. With experienced movements, he started pulling out various herbs and things from a drawer here and a drawer there, measuring them out and mixing them, occasionally passing more vials to Seokmin.

Meanwhile, Mingyu and Seungkwan headed towards the storeroom. They fished out the wireless communication kit first, followed by large amounts of clothes and makeup. Picking up armfuls at a time, they march in and out for many rounds.

Seungcheol chided them all for not going to bed but he went straight to the practice room himself to check on the weapon stash. Junhui came in soon after. Seungcheol would take them out, calling out each one, and passed them to Junhui. Junhui would pick them from him, scrutinised them from every angle, and put them neatly in a line on the floor.

“It’s your fan, Six.”

Junhui daintily took the thing from his leader. He flipped it over, then back, opening and closing it a few times. It seemed Mingyu had fixed it and put it back sometime after the fiasco. Of course, he couldn’t help smiling when he put it down.

“J-Boy’s blunt stave.”

“I hear my name.” Joshua called from the doorway. He held a tray of hot coffee and sandwiches in his hand. “Here, refreshments. Extra sugar for Six.”

“Thanks!”

“Your bias is showing.” Seungcheol pouted.

“Real bias is there in your extra meat, extra cheese, extra jalapenos courtesy of Chef Angel.” Joshua said back. “By the way, he left me a message for you." 

Junhui wisely closed his eyes while Joshua cleared his throat.

“Coupsie-ah, don’t overexert yourself, okay? Fighting!”

“Please help me, I think I cringed so hard, I lost some height.”

Joshua laughed. “Well, my job is done here, I have more snacks to hand out so toodle-loo.”

“Hey tell Angel thanks for me!” Seungcheol exclaimed, blowing a hand kiss.

“Exactly like that?” Joshua asked.

Seungcheol doesn’t say anything and went back to the weapons.

“Hyung, fighting.” Junhui offered.

**

Hours later, they were all sat back in the common area. Jihoon, Vernon, and Minghao sharing what information they’d gathered so far. It helped Seungkwan and Mingyu sort out their pile of disguises.

Wonwoo was making an announcement about their potion stock when Chan came flying back through the window.

“The map’s pretty accurate. Most of the roads are the same except for these few.” He told them, making markings with a red pen.

“This area has been repurposed to a schooling area, so it’s no longer residential. The coastline information is more or less accurate, and I found a grotto here that was not reflected in the map.”

“Okay,” Seungcheol clapped, “Woozi, and Dino, come with me, we hold a strategy meeting now.”

But before he moved, he sought Jihoon’s gaze.

“R-roger!” Chan squeaked, heading to the planning room as fast as he could.

Jihoon softened. “Roger.”

Seungcheol slung an arm around him, walking them there together.

People moved here and there, doing a little bit of everything. Words were thrown about, the whole apartment filled with so much activity, it almost seemed like it would burst.

“This is our plan of attack:

First, Alpha team, Woozi and DK, the distraction team, will cause chaos outside creating a diversion.

Then Beta, infiltration team, Lucky and The8, will sneak in. Your job is to not get caught. Scout around and report everything.

Offence team, Gamma, Angel, J-Boy, Six, will enter shortly after. Follow the information from the infiltration team and secure the target.

Finally Delta, extraction team, myself S.Coups, CHiVe, and Dino, will be waiting outside. Once the target has been secured, we will lead all of you out.

That said, our communications and area support will be provided by the support team, Mr B and Tree. 

All the names that I mentioned first are the team leaders. Is everyone clear?”

“Understood!”

“Let’s get ready, we leave in 20 hours.”

When they shuffle out of the common area, everyone stretched a bit.

“Which unit wants to take first slot at practice?” Seungcheol asked.

“Let me!” Chan shouted immediately. “I really need to stretch.”

The rest concede, individually stalking off to do something else in preparation whether it were taking a quick nap, or checking up on their resources, leaving Chan, Minghao and Junhui to the practice room.

He hadn’t noticed at all, between having something concrete to do and twelve people flitting around, but now, he looked into the practice room mirror and saw three figures and a huge emptiness. Loneliness struck him with a pang.

Last it was just the three of them, nobody spoke a single word. Standing between Minghao and Junhui, suddenly he forgot how it was to communicate with them, as if they really were foreign men. The thought was parasitic, stuck itself to his mind, made his actions somewhat choppy and lopsided.

“What are you doing?” Minghao snapped at him after another stumble. “Keep your focus.”

His Korean was still laced with accent after all these years.

“Well, I’m sorry we can’t all be as closed off as you.” Chan retorted back.

“Fine. If you want to kill yourself, you can go ahead.”

“Guys, let’s not fight.” Junhui tried.

“That’s what you think, isn’t it? That’s why you don’t care at all that one of us is gone! You didn’t even try!” Chan accused.

“We would all have died if not for him! He saved our lives and you want to waste it being upset!”

“You monster!” Chan yelled. The longer he looked at him, the harder it was to see who he was, that person becoming blurry and so incredibly distant.

“Stop crying.” Minghao growled.

The sound was such a waste of energy and time, how much water your body lost for no good reason. And it was so distracting a sound too, made it hard for Minghao to hear his own inner voice telling him to stay strong. He held on desperately to that resolve. 

“I said stop!”

He felt himself reaching forward for the source of the disgusting sound, but then he lost his standing, suddenly sliding across the floor. He didn’t even bother to turn, two and two falling into place when he caught sight of Junhui’s leg returning to position.

“Both of you are right and both of you are wrong.” He said, shakily.

Minghao pushed up until he was sitting and waited.

“We should treasure the things that Hos… Soonyoung sacrificed himself for. So Minghao you’re right, that’s why we should value our own lives. But don’t you see? He sacrificed for more than that. He sacrificed for this team, for our job, for our hard work and our mistakes, and we have to value every part of those too.”

“By crying around in a circle?”

“It’s a small part of it, yes, if that helps you deal.

Which is why, Chan! Come on, that’s enough for now. Pull yourself together, we are going to show a cooler side to us this time. We will.”

Chan sniffled, quickly scrubbing the tears away as he’d been told.

“Also, you two have to apologise.”

“I’m sorry, hyung. I got too emotional.”

“I was kind of insensitive.”

Junhui raised an eyebrow. “Hug it out.”

Chan stepped forward, both arms parallel to the floor.

“Ah no, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, NOOOO!”

It was too late, despite him backing away, Chan had pounced and caught hold around his abdomen. Junhui put two thumbs up, and then he was pulling the both of them towards him.

“I’m sorry too.” He whispered. “I should have done better.”

“We just have to get him back, don’t we?” Minghao said, forcibly removing himself from the group hug. “We’ll bring our leader back.”

The three smiled, short-lived because Junhui was launching a sudden back kick at Chan, who quickly shifted into a bird to get away, an aftershock of sharp wind grazing his wing.

Without time to rest, Minghao had shown up behind him, ready to knock him out of the air. Chan shifted back to human form, dropping back to the ground. He tumbled to break fall.

Junhui’s already accounted for that, knee poised to slam into Chan on the floor. But then Minghao appeared, slamming his entire body weight into Junhui’s, throwing them both backwards.

There was a smug grin before Minghao blipped himself away, avoiding Chan’s punch in the process. The stray fist headed straight for Junhui. But Junhui’s smirking, twisting until he was out of range, then he planted his feet into the wall and pushed back.

Chan shifted again, this time down on all fours, roaring, sharp teeth bared and majestic mane fanned out. Junhui delivered a quick jab to his leg. The beast fell.

Junhui stopped for a bit. This time he felt the air behind him shift unnaturally, spun around to catch Minghao’s sneak attack. Minghao countered, locking them in a back and fourth.

Chan, now human, took this time to recuperate, rolling over so that he was stomach flat on the ground and ready to take off. He couldn’t help cracking a smile before he thrust himself forward, disrupting the China line’s exchange. 

* * *

 

Standing in the middle of the wide field, Jihoon tapped against his earpiece. Around one of his hands was a slight warmth, which was the only thing he could sense of Seokmin right now. The younger was focused on refracting light away from them, allowing them to freely waltz right into the den of the enemy. At the same time, Jihoon doesn’t think he could ever get over not being able to see his teammates in a similar vein.

“This is Woozi.” He waited a bit. “Alpha team has reached the destination.”

“This is Angel reporting. Beta and Gamma are together awaiting signal.”

“Come in Delta.” Seungkwan prompted.

“Delta CHiVe and Dino in position.”

“Delta S.Coups, ready to start.”

“Hold.” Mingyu’s voice was firm over the line. Jihoon ended up holding his breath for real.

“Begin mission in 5.” This time it was Seungkwan.

“4.”

Seokmin’s palms were kind of sweaty.

“3.”

They were shaking a little too.

“2.”

Jihoon squeezed them hard. 

“1.”

The image of Seokmin finally appeared before his eyes, smiling. The next moment, there was a loud rumbling sound of Seungcheol triggering an earthquake. Sirens whir to life as the two braced. 

A few men emerged from the shaking grey building in front of them. They halt in their tracks when they see the strangers. Jihoon let them get over their shock.

“S.Coups, Operation Shake It Off, success. Proceeding to Point B.” He heard.

By now, the men began charging towards them in a rather synchronised display. Jihoon picked up one of them, making a show of tossing him around, like a bored boy with a ball, throw and catch, throw and catch.

Here and there, he made sure Seokmin was doing fine. The guy held up fine, expertly dodging enemies, sometimes he’d stun them with his light.

“Beta Team, depart.” Mingyu’s voice came. That must mean more than half of the base have evacuated then. Jihoon would need to put on a better show.

With a last catch, he changed direction to fling the body as hard as he could into the ground. A ripple of shock spread amongst the guy’s comrades. One of them made a fearless charge, which Jihoon pretends he can’t stop until the guy came within one feet of him. More of them follow soon after. 

In his ear, Wonwoo and Minghao were giving constant updates about what they found. Jihoon had to draw up a mental image of the building’s layout.

“Not in Basement 2.” Wonwoo informed.

“Not on Level 5.” Minghao added.

Strike off and narrow some more until at last.

“Requesting Gamma team. Location is 2nd floor, East Wing.”

“Gamma departing.”

“Halt, a large number of hostile folks are gathering there,” Seungkwan cut in suddenly, “change rendezvous point to West Wing.”

“Roger.” They said in unison.

“Alpha team, some of the enemies are retreating.”

Jihoon probably cursed under his breath. He shot a quick glance to Seokmin, who put up a barrier along the building entrance. Jihoon took a deep breath, retracting every inch of his miasma. Then he let it all out again, sent it like a wave, crashing the men flat into Seokmin’s lightfield.

They sizzle a little. They scream a lot more.

Some more guys come out then. One of them, the one in the centre, was donned in a fully red suit, every inch of him set apart from the others.

“Alpha, be careful, that’s a pro anti-magic hitman they’ve hired.”

The guy made a sweeping motion of command with his hand, the guys around him pulled out guns.

“Oh boy.” Seokmin sighed.

“Watch your back well.” Jihoon told him. Bang, bang, bang! Came the first round of bullets, Seokmin putting up shields as fast as he could, Jihoon dancing on the field in and out of his miasma.

“Gamma and Beta have met.” Someone alerted them. “Hang on Alpha team.”

Which Jihoon had no idea how long that was going to be. He focused on balancing not getting shot with keeping the enemy’s desire to keep shooting. Once or twice, he let a bullet get uncomfortably close before smacking it away with miasma. Slowly, he could feel himself wear down.

Seokmin, too, he could see had been intentionally lowering his guard at certain times earlier, but now some of the deflects genuinely seemed too close, the younger panting and wide eyed when he blocked against it. 

Then, Jihoon decided to make an attack just for the sake of it, lunging in to grab one of the gunmen by the feet. With a scream, the guy dropped his weapon immediately. However his boss must have been waiting, whipping out a dagger to throw.

The dagger was probably anti-magic, Jihoon thought, so he let it pierce. Shit. He hissed. Whenever his miasma took a hit, it felt like someone replaced his blood with pins that were now circulating his body, trailing scrapes against his blood vessels.

But there was no time for that, because the boss sensed an opening and came straight for him.

Jihoon thought about breaking the man, more miasmas lashing forward. The guy predictably had more of those daggers on him. Nailing the black aura onto the floor.

“Woozi!” Seokmin screamed from afar.

His knees were on the floor. Lungs a little empty, he looked ahead to see his black energy spasm on the floor, the guy in the red suit coming up to him deliberately slowly. There was still an unpleasant tingly feeling squirming inside him. The blood that didn’t feel like his own bubbled in protest, rushing up until he couldn’t contain it and spat it out.

When the guy made to throw his weapon earlier, the flap of his suit raising some, a line of silver caught in the light. Jihoon considered that fact.

There was sound coming in from his earpiece. Beta and Gamma have found the target, have found Soonyoung, and they were fighting to get him out. Jihoon considered that fact.

Of course anything was bearable.

With great effort, he yanked the energy out from the where it’d been pinned. The guy threw his dagger again. Jihoon called off his aura completely, taking the dagger with his forearm.

Red Suit chuckled. “Stupid,” he taunted, “I still have the guns.” He flashed a smile, and barked for all his men to take aim. Jihoon drew himself to his full height, stared straight into a muzzle.

Seokmin, some distance away, never stopped fending off bullets. He sensed a sudden shift, as the men paused to rearrange themselves, an ominous feeling looming over his head. He quickly worked towards gathering all the magic that he could muster.

“Delta team now.” It wasn’t clear who shouted but the voice was loud enough to send the line crackling.

“Delta team CHiVe at Point A. Prepare to escape in 3.”

It was an incredible sight, all the men fired on command, at least some fifty odd bullets flying towards them. In the guy’s hand, a dagger tightly held. But then all the bullets come to a halt, hanging picture perfect in the air, forgetting how to work.

A flash of recognition went by Jihoon’s eyes instantly. Hurriedly, he thought about taking Seokmin and getting away from there.

Some miasma came to wind around the younger male, and then they were gone, vanished just as suddenly as they appeared.

**

Jihoon plunked into the rocking boat, Seokmin in tow. “Thanks CHiVe.”

Hansol clicked his tongue in greeting.

“CHiVe reporting. Point A extraction complete. Delta sustained fair damage.”

The boat stirred to life. It was an old fishing boat that Seungkwan helped steal the night before.

 “Angel reporting, Beta and Gamma are following Dino to Point B. We have the target.”

Hansol pulled out the basic first aid kit, trying to at least wrap up some of their wounds before they could meet the more medically apt members. Seokmin had a few cuts himself but he insisted the person who took a direct dagger attack should get attended to first.

Jihoon sat slumped against the side of the boat, only paying hearing the sounds from the earpiece and the dull ocean.

“S.Coups here, all members of Beta and Gamma plus Dino accounted for. We have secured the target, proceeding to the final point.”

“What’s the status?” Seungkwan couldn’t help the concern from slipping in.

“No danger. J-Boy and Lucky are treating the injured.”

“Then, Support team will disband here. See you all at the final point.”

Jihoon’s closed his eyes then, without knowing he must have drifted off to sleep.

In his dreams, he saw Soonyoung. Soonyoung in a filthy cell. Soonyoung skinnier than he used to be, lips cracked. Soonyoung crying.

Harsh shaking, harsher than any current, shook him out of it. Hansol and Seokmin were looking at him, so he picked himself up. They’d reached another island.

As planned, they enter an abandoned school, head straight for the fourth storey bathroom. There were boxes hidden there, containing fresh sets of clothes, various necessities and even passports.

Jihoon counted 13 sets awaiting, they must be the first group to reach. As soon as they were done, they slip back out, hailed a taxi, and travelled to the island’s airport. Without looking back, the three board, sitting separately from each other, travelling by air back to Seoul.

They open the door to their apartment to find it discouragingly dim, none of the lights turned on. Jihoon and Vernon went to sit on the couch. Seokmin made instant coffee.

The door creaked opened, spilling sunlight into the apartment. The light startled the inhabitants, so they jump out to see who had come. Seungkwan and Mingyu bow at them, feeling equal parts disappointed at the three who were quite obviously expecting someone else, and at themselves for having expected the same. But the two join them nonetheless, and now that Mingyu’s here, they eat something other than instant food.

Seungkwan also fussed Jihoon into letting him clean his wounds.

A whole day later, Seungkwan leaped off the couch at the sound of feet shuffling at the door, socked feet sliding across the floor. He found only four people, and he was unable to stop his heart from sinking. Jeonghan pat his shoulders, explaining that they had to split into two groups, and the other side’s flight got delayed. Jihoon wanted to be upset but Junhui, Minghao and Chan were smiling at each other and that had to count for something. Afterwards, Junhui even grabbed his hand and told him not to worry.

So when the door opened for the fourth time, everybody knew what to expect. Jihoon always knew that Soonyoung’s presence was too loud and demanding, always taking Jihoon’s ability to see anything else away. 

From the moment the door swung open, he saw only one person, heard only one voice, and the only thing he could think of then was how he was too short to do what he was about to do.

Propelled himself straight into Soonyoung’s arms.

Yanked him lower by the collar of his shirt.

Kissed him right there.

At that moment, Jihoon learnt of a secret on the other’s lips: The world belonged to them.

Light shone for them, so they could find each other. Just as the darkness existed so they could love in secret. Sound travelled so that they could always be connected. Just as silence echoed so they could ring out to the rest of the world.

Then, slowly, the veil comes off. Where there had been only Soonyoung, now he was aware of the cheering in the background from the people around them.

“Yo, this is super sweet, as you guys always are,” Seokmin went, “but like we were all worried too.”

Soonyoung doesn’t let go of Jihoon even though he laughed, “I’M BACK GUYS!”

Loud. Jihoon lightly thumped him on the chest. There was a fresh round of cheering from the members. Someone belatedly realised they haven’t even closed the door yet.

Seungcheol finally declared the mission a success, their debrief filled with unprofessional laughing and screaming. Despite the overwhelming unofficialness of it all, it seemed like the chapter had finally been over and sealed.

The gang then tried to make their way further into the apartment but everything was a mess, people tripping over each other, tension high. Miraculously, Mingyu’s already managed to spill beverage on the floor. There is more jostling and shoving. At some point, Soonyoung used that as an excuse to put his mouth beside Jihoon’s ear.

“I’m home.”

**Author's Note:**

> \- first of all i hope you had some fun reading d(^ ^)b
> 
> \- haha wow, this is the longest damn thing i've ever written in my life and it is otp fanfiction. plus i think i took almost a month to complete it rip  
> \- i was actually too chipper to write to for the most part as well
> 
> \- this was titled (performance team+woozi x angst) in my drafts
> 
> \- to be honest, when this idea seized me, i had no control. it was a monster that wrote itself.
> 
> \- also, i took a lot of creative liberties with the structure and operation of the so called special ops.  
> \--- initially it was going to be a spy thing but i didn't want to torture the hosh so i made it magical but then it became more like super powers instead of casting spells? welp  
> \--- plus, i made up codenames for everyone without stage names. i consulted a swag name generator and cannot be blamed for anything. i gave jun a new name too, because he was too obvious  
> \--- i did my best but seungkwan's power is reading and manipulating, to some extent, emotion btw. because it's kind of unclear. and vernon can freeze an object's time.  
> \--- never want to handle svt ensemble again  
> \--- jk i'm already planning something next
> 
> \- i threw in a couple of other idol names as cameos and belatedly realised that i made them all somewhat mean people and i feel a teensy bit guilty. i actually really like/ love some of them. and i also feel like i threw yeoseodo under the bus
> 
> \- i'm seriously happy to finish this. most of the time i would give up but i did it all 17k words (according to MS Word!) of it i'm still in shock
> 
> \- okay i think that's all for now? 
> 
> \- i love soonhoon


End file.
